Ida M. Tarbell
Amity Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Noted writer; biographer of Lincoln, historian of Standard Oil; born Nov. 5, 1857, in her grandfather's log home at Hatch Hollow, about two miles to east. She died Jan. 6, 1944, at Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Ida M. Tarbell was born in 1857 in a log home at Hatch Hollow, in the oil-boom country of northwestern Pennsylvania. She grew up to become one of the great muckraking journalists of the Progressive Era, and her painstaking "History of the Standard Oil Company" exposed John D. Rockefeller's ruthless business methods and helped fuel the antitrust movement. She also wrote a widely read biography of Abraham Lincoln before her death in 1944.
Why it matters
Tarbell proved that dogged investigative reporting could hold the nation's most powerful corporations to account, and she helped open journalism as a profession to American women.
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Related people
- · Ida M. Tarbell
- · Abraham Lincoln
- · John D. Rockefeller
Themes & tags
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